In Maharashtra’s Parbhani, hope takes form in a unique dimension — 5 acres, to be precise. This is how tall the smattering of elevated solar panels here is; beneath them, ginger, turmeric, green gram, and okra (lady’s finger) sprout. Govind Rasave (25), the farm manager manning the agrivoltaic setup (a system where crops are grown beneath elevated solar panels), is looking forward to the bountiful harvest.

Govind enjoys his front-row seat to this mini revolution taking off in real time. The Parbhani setup — part of a 50 MW Renew Power solar installation by SunSeed APV, Kanoda Energy, and GIZ German Development Cooperation — is one of the few pilot projects paving the way for an agrisolar boom in India. While the concept has found success internationally, it is still nascent here. Adapting technology to diverse agricultural settings has proven tough.

But now, with a sizable number of pilot projects across the Indian hinterland, solar entrepreneurs find themselves at the precipice of possibility. Govind vouches for this. In the two and a half years that he’s watched the Parbhani project bloom, he’s been in awe. “I live in the Zari village nearby, where I do sugarcane and cotton farming,” Govind explains.

The reason the Parbhani model does not include the same crop choice, he says, is because “these [the panels in Parbhani] are elevated solar panels. We haven’t experimented with growing sugarcane under the panels because of the height of the crop.”

Govind’s favourite part of his morning routine is assessing the land’s performance. Each day, it leaves him pleasantly surprised. “I check the crops and the panels to see whether the plants need irrigation, whether the soil is healthy, and how the setup is performing. It is exceeding our expectations. The best part is that the yield we are getting from here is comparable to what we are getting from our own fields.”

The farmer’s take is coloured by possibility. It highlights agrivoltaics as a potential catalyst that could help blend farming with India’s vision of expanding her solar footprint. But Govind’s optimism is contested by the apprehension expressed by other farmers across India. To them, agrivoltaics is akin to “losing their land to solar”.

Experts urge that a myopic view will unnerve farmers. Instead, they suggest viewing agrivoltaics through a bifocal lens, where the long-term advantages will outpace the short-term hiccups.

Can agrivoltaics break new ground in India?

India ranks fifth globally in installed solar capacity. The daylight hours, compounded by its geographical disposition, make harvesting the sun’s power a smart bet. But that being said, if India has to meet its goal of achieving 500 GW of renewable capacity by 2030 — with a current installed solar capacity of 100.33 GW — it will need to amp up its solar deployment.

The solution lies in the 75,000 square kilometres of India’s landmass — viable ground for solar generation. Farmers, however,........

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